Sedimentation dynamics of magnetite (γ-Fe3O4) nanopowders (10 – 20 nm) in water in the presence of a gradient magnetic field was studied by optical and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) relaxometry methods. The magnetic field B ≤ 0.3 T, dB/dz ≤ 0.13 T/cm was produced by the system of permanent strip magnets. The initial sedimentation rate of the nanoparticles in water and under magnetic fields is higher for less concentrated suspensions (c0 = 0.1 g/l) than for more concentrated ones (c0 = 1 g/l). This might be connected with the formation of gel structures due to strong magnetic attraction between ferromagnetic nanoparticles. In the gravitation field, the suspensions of the particles (10 – 20 nm) remain stable for over 20 hours. The sedimentation process can be greatly accelerated by the action of a vertical gradient magnetic field, reducing the sedimentation time down to several minutes. In a gradient magnetic field enhanced by a steel grid, sedimentation of the nanopowder (c0 = 0.1 g/l) for 180 minutes resulted in reduction of the iron concentration in water down to 0.4 mg/l. In flowing water regime, the residual iron concentration in water 0.3 mg/l is reached after 80 minutes.

Leptospirosis is a potential threat to public health. An increasing number of people infected with Leptospira were reported in Bantul District, Yogyakarta special region with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 7.8%. Infected areas in the district have increased from 2 to 15 sub districts. Leptospirosis is caused by Leptospira bacteria and spread by direct contact with infected rodents and indirect contact through contaminated water or soil. Leptospira in rats, water and soil were detected using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The sites of sampled materials were geocoded using Global Positioning System (GPS). Spatial analysis was used to predict the spread of Spira. This study aims to perform the mapping, clustering, and predicting the spread of Leptospira in Bantul Yogyakarta Indonesia. Data were collected from three sub-districts: Sedayu, Sewon and Bantul. The result showed that 38.04% from 368 samples were Spira positive. There were four significant clusters of infection spread source. Spira is predicted to spread in, and out from, Bantul District.

Curing of cement based products such as concrete and mortar, is very important to achieve good strength and durable products. However the curing environment plays a pivotal role in the overall quality of cement based products in terms of strength development. ASTM C192 allows moist curing either in a fog room or under water. However, these must meet ASTM C511 which controls temperature, and specifically for water curing, the concentration of calcium ions in the curing solution. Unfortunately in many parts of the world, water curing literally means curing in tap water. This is done primarily because there is a lack of knowledge or ignorance regarding the mobility and roll of calcium hydroxide in the curing process. To illustrate the differences, in this study, straight ASTM Type I/II Portland cement and that mixed with powdered waste clay bricks as a cement extender were used to prepare two different batches of mortars. The chemical properties of the powdered waste clay brick met the ASTM C618 standard specifications for Class N pozzolans. Both mortar specimens were cured under two different environment comprising of either water and lime saturated water. Mortar specimens were tested for compressive strength at 3, 7, 14 and 28 days of either curing conditions. Test results indicated that mortar specimens cured in lime saturated water obtained higher strength than those cured in fresh water at all ages of curing. Statistical inference drawn from ANOVA testing showed that curing conditions had significant impact on strength development of the blended and unblended cement systems. The study recommends that testing of concrete and mortar samples and other research related works be performed in lime saturated water other than fresh water.

The defoliation of Cryptomeria japonica is observed in shrine forests around Hikone, Japan. Here, moisture content, soil pH, exchangeable Mg, Ca and Al of soil in shrine forests of C. japonica were examined in order to assess the relationship between these factors and defoliation. There was no relationship between soil pH, exchangeable Mg and Ca in soil and the degree of defoliation in shrine forests. Exchangeable Al in the soil of shrine forests increased with decreasing soil pH below pH 5.0, but there was no relationship between exchangeable Al and degree of defoliation in shrine forests. Soil moisture content differed between severely defoliated forests and forests with no defoliation. Soil moisture is thought to play a large role in inducing defoliation of C. japonica. Based on results from previous studies, the declining forests in the basin of the Kuzuryu River in Fukui Prefecture and in the basin of the Koito River in Chiba Prefecture reported by Yambe (1973) were considered to have been caused by the construction of dams. On these rivers, dams were constructed several years before the forest decline researched by Yambe. Dam construction is thought to have caused the low moisture content in the basins.

Water is one of the most important substances on earth. Safe drinking water is essential to humans and other life forms. All plants and animals must have water to survive. If there was no water, there would be no life on earth. Apart from drinking it to survive, people have many other uses for water. This natural resource is becoming scarcer and its demand exceeds supply in some region rendering its availability a major social and economic concern. Apart of this scarcity is water pollution which is increasing day by day in many parts of the world.Sources of fresh water on land are getting more and more polluted than ever before. As a result, contaminated water became unsuitable for use. Poor water quality is deadly since contaminated water causes hazards to public health through poisoning or the spread of disease. In order to address these issues, the practice of water remediation has been developed.

In demonstrating the prime place of infrastructure investment in its national long-term development framework encapsulated in Vision 2030, as well as in the related New Growth Path, South Africa recently put together a comprehensive National Infrastructure Plan. Aside from mapping out short and medium-term priorities for scaling up investment in strategic sectors and enhancing infrastructure links across the country, the initiative underscores development objectives such as community empowerment and skills development. This paper zeroes into one of the 18 strategic programs in the plan—specifically devoted to water and sanitation infrastructure—and presents the principal elements for pursuing effective inter-project coordination and integration, as well as, ultimately, for ensuring the sustainable implementation of critical infrastructure. The approaches that have influenced the success of strategic coordination include participatory planning, project prioritization, regular tracking and unblocking of implementation hurdles, localization, active stakeholder engagement and ongoing program integration.

The present work is carried out to obtain quantitative information of some natural radioactive materials and heavy metals in water and sediment samples along the Alexandria Coastline, as a step to construct the baseline map of the background radioactivity level in the Egyptian environment and also as a base data to assess the future physicochemical changes of surface coastal water and sediment in the studied area. The distribution of natural gamma emitting radionuclides such as 238U, 232Th and 40K has been established by gamma spectrometry. The results show that the area of Alexandria coast is affected by the existence of high back-ground radiation from the Rashid coast at the eastern side which has high levels of radioisotope concentrations due to black sand deposits which are dominant in this area. The absorbed dose rate (D, nGy·h-1), annual effective dose equivalent, external hazard index (Hex) and representative level index (Ir) of the investigated radioactive materials were calculated. The concentration of Pb2+, Cd2+, Ni2+, Mn2+, Cu2+, Co2+, Zn2+ and Cr3+ ions has been determined using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. The total dissolved solids (TDS) in water samples ranged from 33,000 mg/l to 42,000 mg/l, the salinity ranged from 37.9% to 40.5% and pH ranged from 7.6 to 7.9.Some of the sediment quality guidelines are calculated and they are the metal pollution index (MPI), the contamination factor (CF), degree of contamination (Cdeg), and Pollution load index (PLI).

Damek-Proprawa, M. and Sawicka-Kapusta, K. (2003) Damage to the Liver, Kidney and Testis with Reference to Burden of Heavy Metals in Yellow-Necked Mice from Areas around Steelworks and Zinc Smelters in Poland. Toxicology, 186, 1-10.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0300-483X(02)00595-4

Loska, K., Cebula, J., Pelczar, J., Wiechua, D. and Kwapulinski, J. (1997) Use of Enrichment, and Contamination Factors Together with Geoaccumulation Indexes to Evaluate the Content of Cd, Cu, and Ni in the Rybnik Water Reservoir in Poland. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 93, 347-365.http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02404766

United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (2000) Sources, Effects and Risks of Ionizing Radiation, Report to the General Assembly, with Annexes. United Nations, New York. eww141216lx